Blues at Islanders preview

St. Louis looks to start season 3-0-0; Greiss starts for New York

The Game

The St. Louis Blues will look for their third straight win to open the season when they begin a four-game road trip at the New York Islanders at Barclays Center on Monday. Their practice Sunday was optional, but 15 players participated. The Blues defeated the Dallas Stars 4-2 at Scottrade Center on Saturday.

"We've got three games in less than four days here," coach Mike Yeo told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. "It was a tough game (Saturday) physically. It was demanding. So a chance to save a little energy. And the game that we play is demanding and it's hard-working and you got to be fresh in order to play it."

The Islanders also practiced Sunday despite coming off back-to-back games. They got their first win of the season Saturday, a 6-3 victory against the Buffalo Sabres at Barclays Center.

Goalie Thomas Greiss will make his second start for the Islanders after Jaroslav Halak made 26 saves against the Sabres. Greiss allowed five goals in New York's season-opening 5-0 loss at the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Players to watch

Blues defenseman Alex Pietrangelo played 27:20 on Saturday and has two goals and two assists in two games this season.

Islanders captain John Tavares had three points (two goals, one assist) and was plus-3 in 19:50 against the Sabres.

They said it

"We've got a long trip ahead of us here, so [Saturday night] was a good one. Obviously, we're not going to be home for a while here. We come home and then we go away again, so we're really trying to set the momentum at home early on and prepare ourselves for these long trips." -- Pietrangelo, on the road trip

"I've been on teams that have started poorly and confidence-wise it buries you. Getting off to a good start is huge in the NHL. It gives you confidence." -- Islanders forward Jordan Eberle

Status report

Steen and Bouwmeester are close to being able to play but will not make the trip to New York, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. … Clutterbuck and Quine skated Sunday. Clutterbuck missed the game Saturday after he was injured during the season opener on Friday and is day to day. Quine was injured prior to the start of training camp. His initial timetable was 4-6 weeks.

Stat pack

The Blues have had four different defensemen (Pietrangelo, Parayko, Gunnarsson, Edmundson) score goals in the first two games of a season for the first time in their history. … Ladd is two points shy of 500 in his NHL career. … Tavares' next goal will tie him with Bob Bourne (238) for seventh on the Islanders' all-time list.

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